If we’re ever going to change this world, we have to consider who we’re excluding.

 

It’s exhausting to have to put in extra time, energy, and money to adapt nearly everything we interact with.⠀

Whether it be curricula, articles of clothing, toys and games, the equipment we use, the places we visit, the people we interact with, it’s exhausting to have to adjust, accommodate, modify, reinvent, tweak, alter, rearrange, research, explain, request, ask, and ask again.⠀

I want things to be as easy for my son as it is for other children—without having to do all the leg-work because those who designed the thing in the first place didn’t consider who’s being excluded.⠀

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• Parents: When you select a family activity, who is left out?⠀
• Teachers: When you create a lesson, who’s left out?⠀
• Clinicians: When you design activities, who is left out?⠀
• Administrators: When you encourage professional development, who’s left out?⠀
• Leaders: When you establish rules, guidelines, and policies, who’s left out?
• Creators, authors, coaches, social media influencers, developers, designers, architects, builders, engineers: who are you leaving out?

 

Although it would be impossible to have everything fit all people perfectly, we can make decisions that create inclusive experiences for many more people.⠀

As I teacher, I made countless mistakes. If I had been trained to prepare lessons with this one question in mind, it would have radically altered the quality of education in my classroom.⠀

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I challenge you to ask yourself with your top 3 priorities of the day: Who is being left out?

 

It will be an eye-opener.⠀

 

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